Author's Note: My inspiration for this story was coming across an author who praised his own work through the use of guest accounts and used said accounts to insist that I was jealous for providing feedback. I wish only to demonstrate my own writing ability.
Unlike the author in question, I am happy to listen to criticisms and analysis. Please enjoy!
Grand Admiral Thrawn's scarlet eyes were narrow with curiosity and annoyance as he read the report on the Battle of Endor once again. By now he had likely scanned it close to a dozen times and found that he had committed the details to memory so vividly that this only took him a few moments before he set the datapad down with a deep sigh.
"To repeat Krennic's folly, not once, but twice." Thrawn said in a low tone as if to ensure nobody heard him in spite of the fact that his office was empty of other staff.
Upon the Seventh Fleet's exit from their forced hyperspace jump, Thrawn had ordered immediate repairs and began a concerted effort to find the fleet's current location in space. As of yet, no progress on the latter objective had been made. All they knew was that they were stranded in the Unknown Regions of space.
It took over six months for most of the fleet to rendezvous. Some ships had not even re-appeared. Thrawn found himself starved of information but nonetheless had sat down to ponder the possible causes of this. Indeed, some of the captains under his command served him well during united fleet actions, but faltered when acting independently. On the other hand, it was possible that other ships had sustained damage due to non-ideal hyperspace conditions. Such a scenario opened the possibility of total destruction, or even simply the death of command staff that could have kept a tight lid on crew panic. Disappointing as it was, Thrawn quietly acknowledged that it was a difficult situation to keep control over.
During the reorganization period, the Seventh Fleet had received long-range signals from command. Such signals were standard procedure to keep ships without a solid line of comms in the loop. Thrawn had long since resigned himself to being more patient with the information that he received, especially considering that there was simply nothing he could do to respond in good time.
The first major ping received by the fleet, Thrawn had kept quiet from all but the most senior of his staff, such as Palleon. The ping informed them of the Rebel infiltration of the archives on Scarif, and Tarkin's subsequent destruction of the planet's facilities. For all that Thrawn had appreciated about the Grand Moff, he found this move especially foolish.
"It appears less containment of rebel forces than a maneuver to purge the Advanced Weapons Research branch of Krennic's influence." Palleon had noted when summoned to discuss the development.
"Albeit clumsy." Thrawn argued. "It would certainly cause more trouble than it prevents."
Thrawn did, however, admire the tactical maneuver that Admiral Raddus ordered to annihilate two star destroyers and a shield gate at the cost of a mere corvette. Though Raddus had been killed when the rebel fleet was intercepted by Lord Vader's star destroyer, clearly the Rebel Alliance was host to sharper tactical minds than most of the Empire gave them credit for.
Indeed, the next long range update detailed the second half of Tarkin's critical misstep: Project Stardust's destruction at the hands of what little fighters could be gathered in the wake of rebel losses at Scarif. Although Thrawn was disappointed the development hardly surprised him. The "Death Star", as the late Director Krennic had dubbed it, utterly lacked any form of a flexible defense. How miniscule an adjustment, Thrawn wondered, would have saved the station? A screen of light cruisers to defend the exhaust port after the rebels' first of three attempts on it? Dispatching interceptors in lieu of line fighters? Thrawn noted with some bitterness that a defensive force of TIE defenders was exactly the kind of adaptable force that could have spared the Empire defeat.
Periodic updates on long-past developments in the war reached the Seventh Fleet at inconsistent paces. Thrawn received a report on the conventional counterattack at Yavin and the supposedly successful Battle of Hoth. The creation of a second Death Star brought the Grand Admiral to the verge of rolling his eyes, let alone how it had fallen to a near identical strategy. News of the Empire's failure at Endor had come with an order to rendezvous, which was the last detail of the report that Thrawn read in his twelfth reading before he sighed and set the datapad down. He paged Captain Palleon to report to his office immediately and leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled.
"Grand Admiral." Palleon nodded as he entered Thrawn's office, taking a seat across from him. "You wanted to speak."
"I trust you'll recall, Captain, the order to rendezvous and rally the fleet in the wake of Endor." Thrawn said, sliding the datapad to his advisor.
Palleon had not reviewed the report as many times as Thrawn had, but was indeed still familiar with it. "Yes." He glanced up at Thrawn above the edge of the datapad curiously.
"Our hyperspace fuel stores might, in theory, allow us to follow that order. Is that correct?"
Thrawn knew the answer to his own question and Palleon was well aware of that.
"As our voyage was powered by the creatures that seized the fleet… yes, our fuel stores are quite high." Palleon said and paused. "However, to actually chart our way home…"
"Would be a waste of resources, the most valuable among them time." Thrawn finished.
"A waste, Grand Admiral?" Palleon asked.
"I hold that the already diminished status of the Imperial Navy is unsustainable in a conflict against the Rebel Alliance." Thrawn explained. "Emperor Palpatine's decision to sink resources into a second doomed Death Star will have depleted shipbuilding capacity. Our numerical advantage has or will soon lose its momentum." He stood up and began to wander around his office's art gallery.
"And so you believe the war is lost." Palleon summarized.
"This war." Thrawn nodded. "Not all wars."
"What gives you such certainty that the Empire cannot succeed?" Palleon inquired. He saw the Grand Admiral's line of thinking but had already been entertaining war simulations in his off time.
"The Rebel Alliance's capacity to wage war is far beyond how seriously their threat was taken." Thrawn answered.
He nodded towards a slab of a building that had been defaced with aurabesh graffiti reading, "For Jedha!" in white. Below it was red paint, apparently added later, reading "For Alderaan!". The red paint had also added the outline of a planar explosion, that of the Death Star, framing the words.
"Tarkin's strategy of keeping systems in line with fear was doomed." Thrawn explained. "Unremarkable systems felt themselves at risk when Alderaan was destroyed. The motive to comply was destroyed with it. And with the destruction of the first Death Star came the question of what rebels had to fear."
Thrawn's attention turned to a holographic image of Admiral Raddus's flagship, the Profundity, which had been instrumental in the successful retrieval of data at Scarif.
"The rebels always possessed allies that could supply them with weapons." Thrawn mused, pulling up numerous smaller projections of Mon Cala warships to illustrate his point. "Capital ships capable of meeting our fleets head-on if not for our superior numbers, which we now lack. Starfighters with the speed and versatility to exploit our doctrinal stubbornness, plus the range to outmaneuver our forces and return home."
Palleon ran a finger across his chin thoughtfully. He might have had a harder time believing this conclusion were it not for the repeated errors the Empire adhered to. Emperor Palpatine was also a figure that commanded much charisma and had the goodwill of decades of leadership. Even the latter had most likely waned in the wake of dissolving the Imperial Senate.
"With that considered I have but one question, sir." Palleon said.
"Please." Thrawn gestured for him to continue.
"What is your plan beyond ignoring the rendezvous order?" Palleon asked. "With enough time we certainly can finish repairs on our fleet, but we certainly cannot muster new forces to counter the rebel advantages."
"Indeed." Thrawn nodded. "Under normal circumstances, it becomes but a choice between returning to fall on the frontline and staying here to collapse beneath our own weight."
"And you have knowledge of an asset that makes these circumstances… abnormal." Palleon guessed.
Thrawn's lips curled into a small smile. "You've studied major naval battles of the Old Republic, have you not, Captain?"
"I have." Palleon nodded uncertainly. "Though few campaigns reached into the Unknown Regions. Fewer still that entailed large battles, except… you don't mean?"
"Under Jedi Council declarations, the mythical 'Star Forge' was kept from the history texts." Thrawn explained. "The official recollection is that Rakata Prime was naught but an abandoned battlefield between Republic and Sith forces. And yet…" Thrawn continued further into his gallery. "Evidence of a Rakatan culture persists alongside discharged naval staff passing on stories of what exactly was fought over in the orbit of Lehon."
"Yes." Palleon said tentatively. "A space station that drew unprecedented amounts of solar mass and energies and produced machines of war. It… was supposedly a story."
"As are the Jedi, in spite of their prominence mere decades before now." Thrawn grinned briefly. "Captain Palleon, I believe that in this desperate time in the Unknown Regions, it is more feasible for us to set course for Lehon." He stroked his chin. "I would very much like to investigate these reports. Failing that, the planet will serve as a more desirable, more habitable rally point upon which to organize supplies."
"And if any of the captains are opposed?" Palleon asked, not for himself but for commanders among the Seventh Fleet who had shown signs of fatigue and impatience.
"I will not entertain the delusion that this armada is a democracy." Thrawn answered sharply. "However, I welcome discussion… and am prepared to deal with desertion."
"Very well, Grand Admiral." Palleon nodded. "Let us begin our search for the Star Forge."